Refugees

From time to time there are political issues that I feel either should or need to be discussed. For the most part I usually try to stay away from these points as everyone has an opinion on the matter and everyone thinks they are right for whatever reason. I am talking about the refugee crisis that has been on many people’s minds around the world including both candidates running for the presidency.

The main reason for the plethora of refugees around the world is due to ISIS and ongoing civil wars in Syria and Libya. Civil war leads to some very bad scenarios and this is one of them. The problem is what to do with the people that are fleeing the wars in their countries, what country accepts them? This is what is not so cut and dry, because of global terrorism. That is the main fear surrounding the refugee crisis. Would you let 10 strangers into your house if you though one of them was a murderer and wanted to kill you. I think you would say absolutely not, none of those people are getting in my house. So then what is the rationale of letting hundreds of thousands of refugees into our country or for that matter any other country when a significant portion of them could be or are terrorists. Or honestly would you let in 10,000 people knowing that only one of them is a terrorist or, maybe just 10% or less.

Now I want to be clear before everyone jumps down my throat about not having a heart and being incentive and what not. Look, I would love to help every person in the world and ensure they have the same quality of life as you or I, but let’s be honest that is not feasible or possible. It is no one’s fault it is just not possible, I will take it one step further and say that we (the US) also cannot accept all the refugees that are fleeing their country, again this is just not possible. So with that being said let’s move on…

I have often heard this quote that “history is doomed to repeat itself.” There is a large content of historians that says that a similar refugee crisis brought down one of the most powerful Empires in history. It was quite a while ago but something similar happened over 1,600 years ago in the ancient Roman Empire. This article talks about a large refugee crisis that took place in the Roman Empire when dealing with the Visigoths. At first they wanted them out as the Roman Empire had a refugee policy of accepting refugees but dispersing them across the empire as to keep the likelihood of an uprising relatively low as well as make it easier to assimilate them into Roman culture.

You can say what you want to about our refugee policy, but even the Romans were smart about this and knew of the dangers of what could happen if they took on too many at one time. On the surface this looks like a solid plan, and if you look at the problems we have today the large pockets of refugees are causing problems in countries like Belgium and now Germany because of their policy of inviting immigrants to come into their country, seemingly without any question. I also want to say that I am not just saying we should let anyone other than Muslims into our country, I am simply saying I am not sure we should be letting any immigrants from North Africa and any of the Middle Eastern Countries until we get a handle on the terrorist situation. I think that is a fair assertion.

The article states that the Roman Empire accepted these large amounts of Visigoths but they did not assimilate them, and their soldiers were away fighting other wars. Soon the large pockets of immigrants were seen as outcasts and treated as such, this scenario was ripe for an uprising, and that is exactly what happened. It was this uprising that lead to the fall of the Roman Empire and the sacking of Rome.

I honestly do not have a problem with accepting immigrants of any and every walk of life from around the world. The problem is that when there are too many for the host country to handle, that is when you have problems. The refugees coalesce in large quantities or ghettos like in Belgium and that is a bad situation, as history has shown us. I think there is a number where we can accept people but we have to give them time either months or possibly years to assimilate and become Americanized. While I love how America is a melting pot of cultures at the end of the day I also feel like we, everyone, are Americans. Yes you may be African American, Mexican American, Japanese American, but the key word in all those ethnicities is American, and the sooner that that point gets understood the better. Look in certain places here in American we have honor killings, that is completely unacceptable. In Germany refugees don’t know how to react when they see a woman in a bathing suit or how to act at public pools.

The real issue here is that most of these people that are immigrating have a mindset of that from 500 years ago. Women are second class and men can basically do whatever they want, and if you think I am joking reread the above article. I would liken some of these individuals to barbicans who do not live in the 21st century like you and I. I would also say that some of these people do not want to be American or become Americanized, which I think is a real problem. To me it is like going to a basketball game and sitting next to a family. They seem nice and you ask them who they are rooting for as you cannot tell based on their shirt and hat. They state that they don’t care who wins, curious you continue to talk to them and come to find out they are not even fans of basketball. Then why are you here, you ask. I would use that same logic for immigrants, if you do not want to become an American, WHY ARE YOU HERE??

These are just a few of the problems when too many refuges are let into a host country, or as we have seen from our past, a refugee crisis can also bring down one of the most successful Empires in human history. I am not saying that will be the case that happens here, but it is certainly a fear of mine and I am sure others around the world. This was also one of the main reasons Britain wanted to leave the European Union. There is also much debate going on as to what impact this will have on the rest of the world in terms of economics, but as always we will see what happens.

While some may not think this is an issue and that we, America, should accept any and every immigrant again, history has shown us that that is not a good idea. As cruel and dominant as the Romans were in every aspect of life, even their great Empire could not withstand the influx off too many refuges.